Whether breast- or bottle-fed, babies develop foundational social communication skills by looking at a caregiver's face during feedings. When your infant locks eyes with you, and shifts his gaze to notice what you are looking at, this shows joint attention (the social sharing of a moment between two people).
Many babies do like eye contact while nursing. Other babies don't. Every baby is different, and every baby goes through different phases. So some little ones like your daughter start off with no interest in eye contract while nursing, but will INSIST on eye contact by the time they're eight months old.
Did you know that eye contact is an early predictor of language skills? First, a newborn develops the ability to focus their eyes on a face and can start recognising their mothers face from about 4 days old.
Blame it on curiosity. Like children and adults, babies are generally curious beings and tend to stare as they get to know you. They are also naturally drawn to faces and might be attracted to interesting features like glasses or a bushy beard.
They Are Trying to Communicate
Other than their curiosity, the baby's gaze may also mean they're trying to communicate. As early as three months, babies learn to recognize their parents or primary caregivers. And there staring is their way to communicate.
Somewhere around 2 months of age, baby will look at you and flash a full-on smile that's guaranteed to make your heart swell. Doctors call that kind of smile a “social smile” and describe it as one that's “either a reaction, or trying to elicit a reaction,” Stavinoha says. In other words, baby is interacting with you!
Smiling sessions with your baby will become increasingly animated and joyful. When things get too emotionally intense for your baby, they will stop gazing at you, and they will look away for a few moments. This is called gaze aversion, and it shows that your baby's level of arousal is too high.
Research Confirms This. According to UK researcher Dr. Alan Slater, babies prefer to look at attractive faces, just like adults.
You're Beautiful
A study done by a group of university professors showed that babies often stare at people because they think they are attractive. In the study, babies were shown two pictures: one of a person considered beautiful and one of an individual who wasn't considered attractive.
Birth to 1 month: Newborns can only see about 8-12 inches away (just right for seeing mom or dad during feedings). Expect some brief eye contact. 1-3 months: Things get more fun now! Your little one starts following things with their eyes and making longer eye contact.
Since babies are often on their backs, fixing their eyes straight ahead to check out the fan, the ceiling texture, or some lights is all normal and completely fascinating to them. Many caregivers say that their baby loves ceiling fans.
Gazing into your baby's eyes isn't just important for building an emotional connection. Research suggests that it can also have a powerful effect on early communication and learning.
Understanding newborn bonding behaviour
Your newborn baby uses body language to show you when they want to connect with you and strengthen the bond between you. For example, your baby might: smile at you or make eye contact. make little noises, like coos or laughs.
Talk or sing to your baby.
Your baby has been listening to your voice for the past few months inside the womb. So, to a baby, mommy's voice is the most beautiful sound in the world, no matter what wrong notes you hit. Go ahead and listen to your favorite music and sing along as you breastfeed.
They smile at you.
The first time your baby gives you a true grin is a magical moment. It's their way of saying "I love you." Most babies will smile back if you smile at them by the time they're two months; by four months, they'll smile to get your attention, which is somehow even more adorable.
Most anecdotal observations suggest that babies show a strong preference for friendly, smiling female faces. And scientific studies that track eye movements and other objective measures confirm this widespread belief, showing that babies do indeed show a strong preference for female faces when compared to male faces.
The period that a baby uses to select a primary attachment figure stretches from 2 to over 12 months, with most infants making up their minds in the period between 3 and 7 months. The baby will focus on the person who is most often there for them when needed and who most often gets it right.
Most babies naturally prefer the parent who's their primary caregiver, the person they count on to meet their most basic and essential needs. This is especially true after 6 months when separation anxiety starts to set in.
"Our research, on a much larger sample of babies than Christenfeld and Hill's, shows that some babies resemble their father more, some babies resemble their mother more, and most babies resemble both parents to about the same extent," says Paola Bressan, a psychologist at the University of Padova in Italy who co- ...
Most babies will look more like mom, like dad, or like an even combination of the two. On the other hand, some babies come out looking like no one expected! There are a significant number of factors that go into what your baby will look like.
According to an old notion, first-born children are genetically predisposed to appear more like their father. It was thought that this was done so that the father would accept the child as his and provide for and care for them. Another argument is that this would prevent him from eating the baby.
Babies can feel interest, distress, disgust, and happiness from birth, and can communicate these through facial expressions and body posture. Infants begin showing a spontaneous "social smile" around age 2 to 3 months, and begin to laugh spontaneously around age 4 months.
If your baby shows a lot of anger physically, try to learn when they're building up to a tantrum. They may show particular signs when they're starting to get angry, such as a red face, or a tense or shaky body.
"After 4 months, young babies may start to communicate vocally, which again is exciting," Healy says. Cooing, giggling, screeching, babbling, and a variety of other audible noises can all indicate that your baby is excited.